Bungie now “actively working” on non-Halo IPs, Halo 3 content

After Bungie made its recent split from Microsoft, there was much speculation about what the studio would do now. Hoping to answer that very question, studio head Harold Ryan spoke to European developer news outlet Develop about the company's present and future plans.

No longer tied down to the Xbox 360 or the Halo franchise, Ryan stated that the company is currently "actively working" on new non-Halo intellectual properties, as well as more Halo 3 content. While Ryan expressed his enthusiasm about the team's past projects, including its long stint at Microsoft, he was quick to explain why the studio is ready to move on:

... there are guys that have shipped Halo games for ten years, and they are definitely ready to work on new IPs or create new things. We're actively engaged with the senior staff here on a couple of new IPs right now, but the team that can generate cool Halo games is still running full-speed as well.

The motivation for this seems clear enough, but there's more to the situation than initially meets the eye. Part of the reason why Bungie split seems to stem from the rigidity enforced upon the company by the demanding Microsoft project. "During the development of Halo and Halo 2, we had other, non-Halo IPs in development and we killed those projects both times. Both teams were swallowed whole by the Halo team."

Develop has a long interview with Ryan that may be illuminating to those still curious about the split and what it means for Bungie. Given the strength and popularity of the Halo franchise, and the cult following of the Marathon franchise, we'll definitely be keeping our eyes on whatever Bungie makes next.